On-line barcode printers that communicate with a host computer for receiving printing data, format information, etc. therefrom are known to include a UART or DUART (Dual Universal Asynchronous Transmitter-Receiver). In order to operate such a printer with various host computers, the UART must be initialized with information relating to the host computer's communication parameters to allow a serial bit stream received from the host computer to be converted to a parallel data output coupled to the barcode printer's processor, or visa versa. The initialization of the UART is typically accomplished manually by setting dip switches or by entering initialization information to the printer via a keyboard. This manual initialization of the UART is cumbersome and can be time-consuming.